Pooley Wins Stage 6

Emma Pooley won Stage 6 of the 2014 Giro Rosa after spending 80 kilometers off the front. (Nicola Ianuale)

Emma Pooley has made a career of winning races from long breakaways and she put that talent to good use on Stage 6 of the Giro Rosa. Pooley rode for 80 kilometers off the front of the race and survived to celebrate a solo victory in San Fior.

Race leader Marianne Vos crossed the line in a chase group 15 seconds behind Pooley and successfully defended her pink jersey for another day.

“I am very happy and excited,” said Pooley. “I want to dedicate this victory to my entire team. Only in the final meters did I realize that I could win this stage. It was truly difficult!”

"Mara showed just how much of a well-rounded rider she has developed into," said Rachel Heal, UnitedHealthcare’s sports director. “Vos’s descending skills are well known, so we’re happy that the group didn’t split on the descent.”

Related: Mara Abbott's Wilier Cento1SR

Pooley’s great escape began on the first climb of the day, the short and steep Cà del Poggio. She rode first over the climb and raced solo for around 30 kilometers before a group of six riders joined her.

That group included Giorgia Bronzini (Wiggle-Honda), who promised she’d ride for her teammates in the mountain stages, Elena Berlato (Alè-Cipollini), Trixi Worrack (Specialized-lululemon), Jessie Daams (Boels-Dolmans), Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Rabobank-Liv), and Valentina Scandolara (Orica-AIS), who joined the move in defense of her lead in the mountains classification.

On the main climb of the day, the Salita dei Carbonai, Rabobank-Liv went to the front and the field splintered. Soon a select group formed, and Rabobank-Liv’s Niewiadoma dropped back from the break to help set tempo for Vos.

Absent from the group was Megan Guarnier, who had a frustrating day in the mountains and saw her chances of a high overall finish slip away.

“I had an asthma attack on the big climb," Guarnier said. "It’s something I’ve dealt with a few times. It is a shame for Boels-Dolmans because they have been working so hard for me. It was a hard climb, and I just couldn’t follow. I hate excuses!”

The road on the Salita dei Carbonai wound up the climb, narrow and twisting, the surface pockmarked with potholes. The climb was never completely gravel, but not really paved either. “The final climb was not easy, because in addition to the gradient and the narrow road, there was gravel and many holes,” said Astana-BePink’s Simona Frapporti.

In some sections the climb was so narrow that the team cars had difficulty passing riders. “One of the team cars left a bike from the roof hanging on a tree branch!” said Heal. As the summit approached the gradients became more difficult, with the hardest sections appearing in the final meters of the climb.

Over the top, Pooley led the race alone, but the pink-jersey group was closing in quickly, powered by Rabobank-Liv. In the past, Pooley has struggled with her descending, but this time, she nailed it. “The final descent was the nicest pavement we’ve seen all week,” said Guarnier.

With two kilometers left to race, Pooley’s gap had dwindled to a nerve-wracking 11 seconds. Though the Rabobank-Liv riders powered the chase, Pooley is a past world time trial champion, and managed to cross the finish line alone to take her second career Giro stage victory. “It was painful!” she said.

Behind Pooley, Anna van der Breggen led the chase group across the line for second. Vos finished third, took the four-second time bonus, and successfully defended her race lead.

“Today was the first mountain stage, but it went well,” Vos said over Twitter. “Rabobank-Liv did a good job and we still have the leader’s jersey.”

Rabobank-Liv sits perched at the top of the general classification. Vos leads her teammate Ferrand-Prevot by 45 seconds. Hitec’s Longo Borghini is now third at 53 seconds, followed by van der Breggen at 2:12. Häusler is fifth at 2:17, while Abbott sits sixth at 2:58. Though the road is starting to run out, there are still two climbing finishes left in this year’s Giro.

Heal described defending champion Abbott as “happy and relieved” after today’s finish. “When you’re 15 kilometers from the finish with four Rabobank-Liv riders in a group of seven, and you finish on same time with them, it’s not a bad day!” said Heal.

After today’s difficulties on the climb, Guarnier slipped to tenth overall at 6:26. Fellow American Evelyn Stevens, meanwhile, is fourteenth at 9:26, and is currently the highest-placed Specialized-lululemon.

Tomorrow, the Giro races 91 kilometers from Aprica to Chiavenna. It’s a short, transition-style stage that begins with a neutral descent from Aprica.

The race officially starts with a gradual seven-kilometer climb in Teglio. After a flat jaunt across the valley, the final ten kilometers of the stage are uphill. The race finishes in Chiavenna with an uphill kicker on pavé. It’s a good day for stage hunters to try their luck.

The general classification riders, meanwhile, will be looking ahead to Saturday’s difficult mountain stage to San Domenico. The final climb is long with steep gradients and it offers Abbott her best chance to wrest the pink jersey from Vos’s tight grasp.

A Part of Hearst Digital Media
Bicycling participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.